Call the Office is getting ready to call it quits, but only after a last-ditch appeal from its co-owner for help from the public.

After decades as one of London’s most storied downtown bars and concert venues, the business at York and Clarence streets is on the market, even as its co-owner launches a crowdfunding campaign to bankroll improvements to the more than 150-year-old building.

“Owner is retiring and is offering a full turn-key operation for lease to the right individual,” the online real estate listing says.

In its heyday, the corner bar loomed large as the go-to place in London to see both up-and-coming and established acts, everything from Radiohead, Blue Rodeo and the Tragically Hip, to Nelly Furtado.

Other acts heard at Call the Office include the Goo Goo Dolls, Nickelback and the Barenaked Ladies and, as late as 2014, Teenage Head.

The single-storey bar is available for a $5,000 a month lease, plus property taxes, according to the listing on Realtor.ca.

The owner is willing to stay on and train the people who take on the bar, the posting said. The property can also be leased for re-development.

On Twitter, the bar said it is open and has shows booked into the fall, but on a GoFundMe page, Call the Office’s co-owner Tony Lima said the downtown hangout has been dealt some blows.

“The last couple of years have been tough; live music is of course unpredictable at best, and the last two winters have really taken a toll on this almost 150-year-old building,” he wrote on the campaign page.

The crowdfunding page said costs for a new roof, furnace, pipes and water heater repairs hit the music destination’s bottom line. The page also blames increasing utility bills and unspecified “frivolous but expensive legal activities” for the tavern’s financial issues.

The GoFundMe campaign launched Monday afternoon has a goal of $10,000.

Repeated requests for further comment from the owners of Call the Office were not returned Monday.

Call the Office, a go-to core concert venue and bar, is on the market and appealing for cash to fund improvements. (MIKE HENSEN, The London Free Press)

In 2015, the downtown venue expanded to include pinball machines and vintage arcade games like PacMan.

The building itself dates back to at least 1881, according to the city directory from that year. At the time, it was the Atlantic House hotel, a lively place among many others built along the railway.

“It’s one of the last ones left over from that era,” said local history buff Joe O’Neill. “The whole of York Street was lined with hotels. . . The train station back then would be like the airport of today.”

O’Neill said the hotel would have been a bustling place for good times and good company at the turn of the century, a tradition that continued even when the historic building became a tavern and music club.

For decades, Call the Office was a place any London music lover would know by name, he said. He hopes the storied bar will live on.

“I hope they save it,” he said. “I hope somebody takes it over.”

When The Census, a London-based band, played at Call the Office, band member Brad Azzano said he could feel the history as he looked at the show posters on the wall.

“I remember the first time we played there…after sound check seeing posters of bands we look up to,” Azzano said. “It was cool to share the stage — so to speak — with that.”

Azzano said he grew up in St. Marys and always heard about shows at Call the Office on the radio. He said he thinks it’s sad the club is struggling, but also said “that’s the state of live music.”

York Hotel at York and Clarence, 1980, bought and turned into Call the Office. (London Free Press files)

Another band called After Funk — which came together when its members attended Western University — has been playing Call the Office for about six years, including an upcoming show planned for Thursday.

Jaime Rosenberg, the band’s drummer, said the first show he saw there was a Sam Roberts Band performance.

Rosenberg said every place he’s performed is different, but that Call the Office has a “grittyness to it” that stuck out.

“It’s kind of an institution,” Rosenberg said. “It’d be too bad to see it go.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.